Not yet sure if it is a good news or not, but Air France has become the first airline in the world to offer an in-flight mobile phone service on international flights.

One Airbus A318 aircraft operating European routes has been fitted with a mini GSM base station to provides 123 passengers the possibility to :

• Send and receive sms and mms messages
• Send and receive emails via all phones with Internet access

During the second half of the trial, passengers will be able to make and receive phone calls, with the service being regulated to maintain passengers’ comfort and well-being.

If passengers kindly turn off ringing traffic data from/to an aircraft should not be a big deal, if not journeys may become quite annoying with uninterrupted flow of incoming messages ringing alert.

Hard to imagine how will be a long haul flight with full mobile phone services (voice and data) "offered" to passengers. 

At the end of the six-month trial, Air France will examine the feedback and comments made by customers to determine whether to launch this service on all its flights.

What is your feeling about the availability of in-flight mobile phone service ? 

For the technical part,
Air France uses Mobile OnAir onboard mobile telephony system, certified by EASA (European Aviation Safety Authority) which does not interfere with the radio-navigation instruments on this Airbus A318 and may only be used at cruising altitude once the new illuminated sign “Switch off your phone” is turned off (recycling the "no smoking" sign ?).  The system is activated at 3,000 metres (10,000 feet).

More about this trial on AirFrance site including a video of the 1st trial flight.

Tags: -50 days-, 2007, access, air, airbus, aircraft, airfrance "air france" gsm "gsm onboard" aircraft aviat, art, availability, Aviation, blog, bt, ces, customer, europe, flight, gsm, HP, ia, im, in-flight, International, internet, internet access, ITU, King, lan, launch, light, list, mobile, mobile phone, nomadcom.net, passengers, phone, phones, safe, safety, services, sms, term, traffic, video, what is, world, wp, www

I found the article below on "The Register" site and asked myself the following question: 

If connecting to Internet using an open and unsecured wifi access point is considered as a crime, why authorities do not apply the same principle to other services (mainly electricity and water) we often use without any formal agreement of the owner ?

 " More than half of computer users have illegally stolen Wi-Fi connections, according to The Times – but only 11 alleged offenders have been arrested in the UK, as the police seem to think those deploying Wi-Fi should be more careful about securing their connections.

The data was collected from a "Have Your Say" survey on the website of security-specialist Sophos: apparently 54 per cent of the 560 people who responded admitted nicking bandwidth from insecure Wi-Fi routers.

This might say more about Sophos customers than the general population, and extrapolating the results to every computer user in the country is probably a crime against statistics: so that's exactly what The Times has done.

…

Anyone caught stealing a Wi-Fi connection can be fined up to a grand, even if it's left unsecured, so make sure you ask nicely next time you're looking to log on, and if the person next to you has never stolen a Wi-Fi connection then we have to assume that you have. "

What is your opinion about accessing open wifi ? Do you think it is a crime ?

Source: The Register

Tags: 2007, access, agreement, art, blog, ces, computer, connection, connections, crime, customer, electricity, enforcement, free, ia, im, internet, internet access, King, lan, law, list, MIT, nomadcom.net, police, population, security, services, statistics, survey, the register, thief, thieves, uk, user, water, web, website, what is, wifi, wireless, wp, www

China Mobile, the World largest mobile phone service provider with its 350 millions customers (mainly in China!) has completed the installation and testing of their 3 mobile phone base stations installed on Mt-Everest slopes.

The 3 solar-powered stations installed respectively at 5200, 5820 and 6500 meters above sea level, were transported by porters and yaks and built in a harsh environment where oxygen level is only 38 percent of what it would be on ground. They will make possible for climbers and those who will be 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay route to establish and receive calls along the entire Mount Everest climbing route, including its 8'848m. peak.

After the completion of these ultimate test, China mobile workers immediately started to pack all equipments away for the winter. The station will be reinstalled next summer before 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Tags: 2007, 2008, art, blog, customer, everest, gsm, himalaya, ia, im, install, lan, LED, mobile, Mobile Communications, mobile phone, nomadcom.net, olympics, phone, power, tibet, world, wp, www

The attacks on Swiss financial institutes with the aim of unjustified enrichment and the threat of the targeted industrial espionage via the internet are the main topics of the fifth semi-annual report of the Reporting and Analysis Centre for Information Assurance.

The report assesses the situation of the first half of the year 2007 in Switzerland and is now available online and clearly shows that the human factor remains the weakest point of ICT security.

Focus areas of issue 2007/I

• Attacks on Swiss financial services
  "Classic" phishing attacks by e-mail with password requests have decreased substantially in Switzerland. Moreover, all such attacks have been unsuccessful. On the other hand, successful attacks with malware have increased. Two-factor authentication systems (e.g. transaction authentication numbers, SecurID, etc.) do not afford protection against such attacks and must be viewed as insecure once the computer of the customer has been infected with malware.

• Industrial espionage and data theft
  The threat posed by targeted state or private industrial espionage continues. Not only the operators of critical infrastructures, the armament industry, or public authorities are threatened. Medium-sized industrial companies as well as manufacturers of luxury articles and fashion are also being targeted. The attacks are carried out by sending targeted e-mails to individual employees which contain malware in their attachments or links to bogus websites.
• Attacks on web servers:
  malware distribution, phishing, data theft Compromising of web servers has increased. The purpose is to use web servers to distribute malware, such as by drive-by infection, to steal data (especially on commercially used servers), to carry out (interim) storage of data (e.g. in connection with phishing), or to distribute messages that are generally political in nature.
• Malware / attack vectors
  Malware is still usually distributed through e-mail attachments or e-mails with links to bogus websites. Using clever social engineering techniques, the victim is deceived into opening the attachment or clicking on the link. Websites installing malware on the computer without any action by the user (drive-by infections) have heavily increased as an infection vector. Vulnerabilities in the operating system, the browser, or other applications are exploited. For a long time now, this no longer only happens on dubious sites, but also on (compromised) serious and well-known sites. Rates of recognition of malware by anti-virus software remain low.

The complete report is available on Melani website in italian, german, french and english.

A complete and useful list of all Internet risks and related protection measures is also available.

Tags: 2007, 24, aim, analysis, Annual, art, ATT, attack, blog, ces, computer, connection, CTU, customer, engine, espionage, human, ia, ict, ICT Security, im, industry, install, internet, IT World, ITU, King, lan, list, malware, melani, nomadcom.net, online, password, phishing, public, risk, security, services, social, storage, swiss, switzerland, theme, threat, user, web, web server, website, wp, www, XP

Free and universal Wi-Fi community builder "FON Movimiento" is spreading fast across Europe. In September an agreement was signed with Cegetel, France 2nd largest ISP to introduce the free "Neuf Wifi FON" service. This service offers Neuf Cegetel's subscribers to share some of their Internet bandwidth through their "Wifi Neuf Box" and to become part of the FON community. Cegetel estimates that by end of 2007, 1 million of "Neuf Box 4" will be ready to support this new service. 

Members of the FON community get free and secured Internet access through any "FON Spots" Wifi Access Point around the globe. 

Earlier this month in United Kingdom, BT also joined forces with FON and offer to 3 million BT's broadband customers to share their Internet access and join the FON community.

Now it is the Geneva city council to sign a convention with FON to consolidate the small existing wireless network available in some key locations of the city. The city council envisages to distribute up to 500 FON routers to its citizens who may wish to share their Internet Access via the FON community (complete story, in French, on TSR telecom blog).

Non-member of the FON community will be able to get access to the Internet through FON Wifi networks using a 3 USD/day fee "FON Access Pass".

Let's hope this solution will be more successful than previous attempts as most of them were sunk by politicians and endless administrative discussions.

" Post Tenebras Lux" ? 

Tags: 2007, 24, access, agreement, art, ATT, blog, bt, ces, citizen, community, customer, europe, fon, fon movimiento, free, geneva, geneve, HP, ia, im, internet, internet access, King, lan, location, map, Mobile Communications, network, neuf cegetel, nomadcom.net, post, share, story, sun, telecom, Telecommunications, uk, wifi, wireless, world, worldwide, wp, www

AT&T threaten to disconnect its customers (Def. Customer:someone who pays for goods or services) who may criticized its services on the Internet (blog, others sites, etc..). AT&T customers must accept TOS (Terms of Service) where you can find the following statement on the section "Term & Termination".

5.1 Suspension/Termination. Your Service may be suspended or terminated if your payment is past due and such condition continues un-remedied for thirty (30) days. In addition, AT&T may immediately terminate or suspend all or a portion of your Service, any Member ID, electronic mail address, IP address, Universal Resource Locator or domain name used by you, without notice, for conduct that AT&T believes (a) violates the Acceptable Use Policy; (b) constitutes a violation of any law, regulation or tariff (including, without limitation, copyright and intellectual property laws) or a violation of these TOS, or any applicable policies or guidelines, or© tends to damage the name or reputation of AT&T, or its parents, affiliates and subsidiaries. Termination or suspension by AT&T of Service also constitutes termination or suspension (as applicable) of your license to use any Software. AT&T may also terminate or suspend your Service if you provide false or inaccurate information that is required for the provision of Service or is necessary to allow AT&T to bill you for Service

AT&T also reserves the rights to update or change from time to time the terms of the agreement and apparently without notice. It is the customer's responsibility to regularly check, on their website, to check if terms have changed and if he/she still agrees with them as they become effective immediately after being posted on AT&T website.

This Agreement may be updated or changed from time to time. The current Agreement shall be posted at: www.att.net/legal/tos (“Website”). This site will be updated as changes are made. You agree to visit the Website periodically to be aware of and review any such revisions. All changes shall become effective upon posting of the revised Agreement on the Website. Your continued use of the Service following such notice constitutes your acceptance of those changes. If you do not agree to the revisions, you must terminate your Service immediately.

So, Dear and Cherished AT&T customer, if you really expect to have "The World. Delivered" by AT&T, you rather have to be nice with them. Otherwise…… 

Source: Zataz

Tags: 2007, agreement, AT038T, ATT, blog, cable, ces, copyright, criticism, CTU, customer, disconnection, dress, find, fon, ia, im, internet, IT World, ITU, lan, law, live, MIT, nomadcom.net, pda, post, review, sco, services, space, Telecommunications, term, threat, update, violation, vision, web, website, world, wp, www, XP

Last week Lenovo (certainly among others) announced to its customers that owners of "qualified systems" can, if they wish, downgrade their Vista O/S to Windows XP. The offer is valid till 31st of July 2008.

Now, Microsoft announces that Windows XP operating system will remain available for sales to OEM and retail till June 2008, which is five month more than previously announced. System builder partners will be able to offer Windows XP until end of January 2009.

Windows XP Starter Edition in emerging markets where it is currently available for the rapidly growing class of hardware-constrained ultra-low cost PCs until June 30, 2010.

Long waited Microsoft Vista SP1 has not been yet officially announced and its release is not expected before 2008.

Tags: 2007, 2008, api, art, blog, ces, customer, downgrade, ia, ibm, im, IT World, lan, microsoft, nomadcom.net, press, release, train, vista, windows, wp, www, XP

I don't want to defend Skype after the outage their login system faced last week (16-18.08.07), as they are doing it lots better than me, but I'm amazed by the quantity of critical and harsh reactions following this unforeseen interruption of service.

I have the impression that Skype critical voices are not so loud and mean when their local ISP, mobile  operator, telephone company, electricity or any other services they subscribe, including indispensable ones such lift, coffee machine, PS3 etc..

Skype outage was the first major glitch for the last 4 years which is more than excellent record in term of reliability. During that period how many time you have not been able to send SMS, pass a phone calls and even access the Internet either from home or at work ? 

In addition, Skype took the decision to compensate their paying customers (Skype Pro, Skype Unlimited,
SkypeIn or Skype Voicemail customers) by extending their subscription for 7 days in a goodwill gesture.

What I would propose is to spead the word among all Telco's and ISP (to start with) that automatic compensations are most welcome whenever they are not able to deliver the service we are paying for (perfect example of bad ISP behavior in Switzerland, video in French). 

Tags: 2007, access, arc, art, availability, blog, ces, compensation, customer, electricity, example, failure, google, GTalk, ia, im, internet, IT World, lan, live, login, MIT, mobile, nomadcom.net, outage, phone, press, reliability, sco, search, services, skype, sms, space, switzerland, term, video, web, wp, www

I remember the first self-service petrol stations selling fuel only, then came air-pressure and vaccum cleaner services, carwash and later the very popular so called "convenience stores" but customers always want more…

In Badalona (Barcelona suburb) the petrol station provides another service: The Pet's Wash

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 For 4 euros, your get a 4 step washing service dedicated to your pet :

• Shampoo
• Rinsing
• Bug's protection
• Drying

If this service is certainly very useful for Pet's owners living in a flat as it saves them from turning their bathroom into a battle field each time they have to bath their loved animal, I really wonder what will be the next "completely essential" service that every petrol station must offer to its customers.

Do you know other "essential" services available in petrol stations ? 

Tags: 2007, air, animal, arc, ATT, blog, carwash, ces, convenience store, customer, Fun, ia, im, LED, nomadcom.net, On The Road, pet, petrol stations, petwash, plugin, press, services, space, wordpress, wp

The weekend was the grand opening of the 28th International Motorshow of Bangkok. The perfect opportunity to see how different such an exhibition can be here in Asia, as the only one I knew so far was the Geneva's one. 

The first surprise was to see where some exhibitors are located inside the exhibition hall. Imagine, just beside the prestigious british car maker Bentley you can find Carryboy (fiberglass hard tops & accessories manufacturer) and Club Car (golf cars & utility vehicle).

Then, come the real show…lots, but a lots, of pretty models everywhere. Normally (or I guess so), they are here to guide and inform potential customers on presented vehicles…nothing is less sure. In fact, I was wondering if cars were just there to serve as shiny background for the casting of new Southern Asia Top models (it's not a complain).

In South Korea, times have changed, and Korean design has advanced to the point where the need has waned to employ hundreds of pretty models at the upcoming Seoul Motor Show (6-15.4). Hyundai models will drop in number from 46 to 36, Kia is going from 44 to 36, and miniskirts and "sleeveless shirts" will be less prevalent in an effort to put more emphasis on the cars.

In resume, with global warming concern, if car sales go down and skirts stay up, the planet will be a better place to live (Monday philosophy!).

 

Flickr Photo Set : Intl. Motorshow
Source (about Seoul) : Autoblog 

 

Tags: 2007, 24, access, asia, asian girl, automobile, Bangkok, blog, cars, ces, CTU, customer, design, exhibition, find, Flickr, Fun, geneva, global, global warming, ia, im, International, lan, live, models, motorshow, New pictures, Our World, photo, Photography, power, pretty girls, resume, sexy, space, thai meet flickr, Thailand, vehicles, www